Character Suspension

[Equinox]

"Character Suspension" is essentially a temporary PK. The idea behind it is that a character is removed from RP temporarily, and then allowed to come back in later.

What is it for?
Character Suspension is what happens when your character, a normal citizen, is suspected of committing a crime, but evidence is not entirely conclusive towards your character's guilt.

An example is as follows:

A member of the Collaborator's Party accuses John Doe of stabbing another loyalist in the back alley. John Doe may or may not have done this. What the Civil Protection know is that John Doe was in the alley at the time of the stabbing, and the only other person was another member of the Party. IRL, John Doe would be tried, and if not found guilty without a reasonable doubt, he would be let go. But this is the Combine- a totalitarian empire. They don't care if John Doe is guilty or not. What they care about, is that John Doe is being a nuisance to society by being suspected of murder. John Doe is not deemed guilty, but is instead sent away to detainment for questioning and "holding". In short, he is sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit.

In this instance, John Doe would be fined a hefty amount of SCP for "disturbing the peace" before being given a Character Suspension. This means John Doe cannot be played for X amount of days, as decided by how CMs want to implement Character Suspension. After those days are up, the character is allowed to be played again, and they show up back in the city after being released from detainment.

Why add this?
It gives the Civil Protection teeth, without having to go the extreme of outright PKing a character over suspicion.

Because the Civil Protection are, according to actual members of Civil Protection, not able to intimidate, which is in turn a cascading problem that ruins the atmosphere of the setting by taking the teeth out of the Combine. The Civil Protection are not there to protect the individual. They are there to protect the Combine's society as a whole.

This presents an actual threat to the player that changes how they interact with the Civil Protection and the Combine as a whole. They can't pull shady bullshit right in front of the Civil Protection and expect to get away because "Evidence wasn't Conclusive". They have to be able to LOOK innocent as well. They have to avoid drawing eyes. They have to lay low. They have to play the part of a truly good Citizen, and be wary of loyalists who may land them somewhere worse off.

Keep in mind, a limit should be implemented for how many times you can have a Character be suspended. This can be done through SC points, or through a hard limit. If a character is faced with detainment after X amount of previous detainments, or enters the negative on SC, they should be considered for a PK. This creates a tense atmosphere, where a player knows that fucking around can land them in serious circumstances.

What is this NOT for?
Character suspensions are NOT for throwing characters into temp bans for the reason of "I don't like you >: )", personal vendettas, or simply "being evil". They are there as a punishment for drawing the eye of something you really don't want to have the attention of, that being the Civil Protection. It gives the Civil Protection teeth, without having to go the extreme of outright PKing a character over suspicion.

In the end, the reasoning for a character suspension should answer yes to these three questions:
1. Is there at least partial evidence for this character to have committed a crime? (Yes, the character has drawn attention to themselves.)
2. Does the crime warrant a response from the Civil Protection? (Yes, the crime committed is worthy of a character suspension.)
3. Would a character suspension be a fitting punishment for the character, given their standing? (Yes, it makes sense from an OOC perspective.)

 

[Aspect™]

As logical as the concept seems from an In-Character standpoint, I can't support it from an Out-Of-Character one. Throwing people in jail, 'suspending' them, or generally restricting the usage of their character hurts roleplay as it essentially prevents them from playing the game because, well, they played the game. It's not fun. Sure, there has to be some sort of punishment out of failing to carry out a spotless operation or whatever, but there should also be a reward for doing so - punishment in the example you provided would be the person getting amputated for murder, and reward would be them getting to walk free after committing that illegal act.

 

[Gyrann]

I personally find this a waste of time.

We already temporary pked characters in the past and they never roleplay the serious effects of having been in a combine labour/detention camp.
So "suspending" a character doesn't really bring any roleplay from my experience.

 

[ShadoWiz4rd]

"Character Suspension" is essentially a temporary PK. The idea behind it is that a character is removed from RP temporarily, and then allowed to come back in later.

What is it for?
Character Suspension is what happens when your character, a normal citizen, is suspected of committing a crime, but evidence is not entirely conclusive towards your character's guilt.

An example is as follows:

In this instance, John Doe would be fined a hefty amount of SCP for "disturbing the peace" before being given a Character Suspension. This means John Doe cannot be played for X amount of days, as decided by how CMs want to implement Character Suspension. After those days are up, the character is allowed to be played again, and they show up back in the city after being released from detainment.

Why add this?
It gives the Civil Protection teeth, without having to go the extreme of outright PKing a character over suspicion.

Because the Civil Protection are, according to actual members of Civil Protection, not able to intimidate, which is in turn a cascading problem that ruins the atmosphere of the setting by taking the teeth out of the Combine. The Civil Protection are not there to protect the individual. They are there to protect the Combine's society as a whole.

This presents an actual threat to the player that changes how they interact with the Civil Protection and the Combine as a whole. They can't pull shady bullshit right in front of the Civil Protection and expect to get away because "Evidence wasn't Conclusive". They have to be able to LOOK innocent as well. They have to avoid drawing eyes. They have to lay low. They have to play the part of a truly good Citizen, and be wary of loyalists who may land them somewhere worse off.

Keep in mind, a limit should be implemented for how many times you can have a Character be suspended. This can be done through SC points, or through a hard limit. If a character is faced with detainment after X amount of previous detainments, or enters the negative on SC, they should be considered for a PK. This creates a tense atmosphere, where a player knows that fucking around can land them in serious circumstances.

What is this NOT for?
Character suspensions are NOT for throwing characters into temp bans for the reason of "I don't like you >: )", personal vendettas, or simply "being evil". They are there as a punishment for drawing the eye of something you really don't want to have the attention of, that being the Civil Protection. It gives the Civil Protection teeth, without having to go the extreme of outright PKing a character over suspicion.

In the end, the reasoning for a character suspension should answer yes to these three questions:

1. Is there at least partial evidence for this character to have committed a crime? (Yes, the character has drawn attention to themselves.)
2. Does the crime warrant a response from the Civil Protection? (Yes, the crime committed is worthy of a character suspension.)
3. Would a character suspension be a fitting punishment for the character, given their standing? (Yes, it makes sense from an OOC perspective.)

Did someone say government sponsored summer camp? (Conscription) And Government assigned careers!? (Gulags)

 

[Equinox]

As logical as the concept seems from an In-Character standpoint, I can't support it from an Out-Of-Character one. Throwing people in jail, 'suspending' them, or generally restricting the usage of their character hurts roleplay as it essentially prevents them from playing the game because, well, they played the game. It's not fun. Sure, there has to be some sort of punishment out of failing to carry out a spotless operation or whatever, but there should also be a reward for doing so - punishment in the example you provided would be the person getting amputated for murder, and reward would be them getting to walk free after committing that illegal act.

Then as alternative, they should take a heavy SC point punishment followed by making SC points able to lead to amputation if it reaches 0, or simply anti-citizen status. There needs to be something that can allow the Civil Protection to truly antagonize and effect a character without the extreme of PKing them.

 

[ShadoWiz4rd]

Then as alternative, they should take a heavy SC point punishment followed by making SC points able to lead to amputation if it reaches 0, or simply anti-citizen status. There needs to be something that can allow the Civil Protection to truly antagonize and effect a character without the extreme of PKing them.

that's already a thing lol

 

[Equinox]

that's already a thing lol

I've been told otherwise by Civil Protection players.

 

[ShadoWiz4rd]

If you get to like 60=amputation but if you fuck around i.e try and kill a cop or something it's likely you're getting tagged with a black-tier which alongside red usually means immediate amputation. However if we were to change red tier to offer for the less intense red tier crimes I.E Criminal tresspass to result in characters being sent off to a gulag or something rather then being killed and being allowed after a few months back via a character auth then I'd be on board.

-A Civil Protection player.

 

[Aspect™]

Then as alternative, they should take a heavy SC point punishment followed by making SC points able to lead to amputation if it reaches 0, or simply anti-citizen status. There needs to be something that can allow the Civil Protection to truly antagonize and effect a character without the extreme of PKing them.

Perhaps a watchlist would be a better alternative. And if they get suspected of something while they are already on a watchlist, then they get punished.

 

[ShadoWiz4rd]

Perhaps a watchlist would be a better alternative. And if they get suspected of something while they are already on a watchlist, then they get punished.

BOL Kind of takes care of that but I'm sure OSI if it became a little more involved on the server could probably handle something like that. It's not our job as Civil Protection to investigate people, It's our job to keep the citizenry in-check and defend our socio-index from falling. In English, It's not our job to protect people but to protect the city from falling into anarchy or being overrun by xenian and exogen.

The more I think about it the more I'd kind of like to see OSI Operate more in-game as a sort of FBI Esq investigation organization alongside Civil Protection. A branch between CP's and OTA.... Keep tabs on Anti-citizens create dossier's and control/handle assets....you know the shit they're supposed to do, Especially if we're talking about 86ing OTA Considering watchlist/surveillance and Intelligence and shit are their mission statement rather then Civil Protections.

 

[HanSolo1519]

protect the city from falling into anarchy or being overrun by xenian and exogen.

god damn french elements and estrogen.

IMO, having something that actually supports roleplay would be better. Such as public service detail involving shackles and being treated as a galunger forced to sweep streets for a week would be alot less restrictive than temp pks.

in-map slave labor > off-map slave labor

 

[Robert]

While this sounds nice on paper, it can be awful in practice. Like Aspect said this isn't great for RP nor does this system actually work. It is just boring to a lot of people. We have tried this in the past and people do get bored and people do not care for any effects of them being suspended. They just come back afterwards and act like nothing even happened. Even if you told them like "Hey, you get to leave now and this happened to your char" they will just shrug and walk it off, not caring for any IC effects on them since it really isn't a bother to them.

Also, the SC point thing you mentioned already exists, except you are marked as basically "trash" after hitting lower than 80 SC and marked for death after dropping below 60 SC since at that point you have done far too much anti-civil activity that the combine has decided your free trial of life has come to its end.

Also, if this is in regards to CPs killing a "suspected" criminal rather than a confirmed one... that is already handled too. CPs are not allowed to kill suspected criminals, they must have confirmed and verified evidence before they can kill someone. Whether they be on spot during the crime a suspect just committed or whether it be a wanted criminal who is marked because they shot someone in the middle of the street with no mask and a camera saw them do it since they did it in the open. Given the evidence is there, they may tag that person and take em out.

And with the above said... it would be boring for someone to be suspended over suspicion... and would piss a lot of people off for being locked out of their character. I can now just suspend a bunch of people because lel xd, I find them suspicious. Not a great idea so this is a -support from me.

 

[Maroon]

I'll confer with @Memesky and @numbers23541

 

[ShadoWiz4rd]

While this sounds nice on paper, it can be awful in practice. Like Aspect said this isn't great for RP nor does this system actually work. It is just boring to a lot of people. We have tried this in the past and people do get bored and people do not care for any effects of them being suspended. They just come back afterwards and act like nothing even happened. Even if you told them like "Hey, you get to leave now and this happened to your char" they will just shrug and walk it off, not caring for any IC effects on them since it really isn't a bother to them.

Also, the SC point thing you mentioned already exists, except you are marked as basically "trash" after hitting lower than 80 SC and marked for death after dropping below 60 SC since at that point you have done far too much anti-civil activity that the combine has decided your free trial of life has come to its end.

Also, if this is in regards to CPs killing a "suspected" criminal rather than a confirmed one... that is already handled too. CPs are not allowed to kill suspected criminals, they must have confirmed and verified evidence before they can kill someone. Whether they be on spot during the crime a suspect just committed or whether it be a wanted criminal who is marked because they shot someone in the middle of the street with no mask and a camera saw them do it since they did it in the open. Given the evidence is there, they may tag that person and take em out.

And with the above said... it would be boring for someone to be suspended over suspicion... and would piss a lot of people off for being locked out of their character. I can now just suspend a bunch of people because lel xd, I find them suspicious. Not a great idea so this is a -support from me.

Agreed for the most part. Though I think in specific cases relocation to a labor camp for an extended period of time should be a valid option for People of interest. I.E Informants mainly.

I think the overall Idea works better on a rare case by case basis. Like lets say you've racked up a bunch of 507 charges 48's or just low tier blue shit you can be amputated eventually because of it. But for a lot of these people sending the ones who are capable role-player's characters off into stasis with the understanding their character will have underwent severe intensive labor and some loyalist brain-washing at said camp might be preferable, Same as how we recruited people into the Penals. Or how we recruit Stalkers.

 

[albertossic]

I personally find this a waste of time.

We already temporary pked characters in the past and they never roleplay the serious effects of having been in a combine labour/detention camp.
So "suspending" a character doesn't really bring any roleplay from my experience.

To add, as somebody whose character was un-PKd and had it treated as him returning from the no-training conscription : It's lame to roleplay tbh
Having to lug around a week of hypercompressed IC-trauma with you might sound interesting, but it just winds up to "Hey X! Where've you been?" "Prison." "Oh. Damn."

 

[Atle]

As logical as the concept seems from an In-Character standpoint, I can't support it from an Out-Of-Character one. Throwing people in jail, 'suspending' them, or generally restricting the usage of their character hurts roleplay as it essentially prevents them from playing the game because, well, they played the game. It's not fun. Sure, there has to be some sort of punishment out of failing to carry out a spotless operation or whatever, but there should also be a reward for doing so - punishment in the example you provided would be the person getting amputated for murder, and reward would be them getting to walk free after committing that illegal act.

This basically, but I feel this would've been better suited in the CP/OTA CCC section rather than a server-wide policy thing here. Anyhow I'll have to deny it as a 'overall' thing but temp PKs can and do take place just not that often. Plus CPs / OTA / CCA can already do this if they choose to its just not a enforced thing

DENIED